Passed SCBCD with 97%!

Mike Melton

Greenhorn

Posts: 13

posted 12 years ago

I just want to give a big fat "THANKS" to Kathy and Bert for their excellent book. Four weeks ago my EJB experience consisted solely of 3 days in a training class. Head First EJB almost single-handedly resulted in the highest certification score I've ever gotten, with the least preparation, by far.

The funny thing is, as recently as yesterday, the highest score I'd gotten on any mock exam was 82, and I was averaging in the low 70's! Once I got into the testing center, though, I've never been as confident in my preparation.

Well - I passed SCWCD in May and SCBCD in June, so I think I'll take a little break for a while. My brain needs rest. After that, probably SCJD followed by SCDJWS, if it's ready by then. My eventual goal is SCEA, maybe late this year, but more likely early '05.

The biggest single hint I can give you (besides "Read Head First EJB") is to MEMORIZE the interfaces, particularly EJB(Local)Home and EJB(Local)Object. The first thing I did when I got into the test was to write down the interfaces on the scratch paper they gave me. They probably answered 15-20 questions for me, if not more.

Good luck!

Gaurav Bhatnagar

Ranch Hand

Posts: 48

posted 12 years ago

Congrats on passing the exam with flying colours ...guess am in the same situation as u were a month back..I have already ordered the "FirstHead EJB " and would be starting the prepration.Though am working but hope to devote couple of hours daily..what do u say 2 months max is a good time for prepration to get ur kind of score??

[SCJP 2][SCWCD1.4][SCBCD1.3]<br />First Deserve Than Desire!!

Mike Melton

Greenhorn

Posts: 13

posted 12 years ago

It depends on how much time per day you can dedicate. I estimate that I put in around 10-15 hours per week, for 3 or 4 weeks. HFEJB is the only hardcopy reference I used but the sites linked at JDisucss are quite useful. On the few days leading up to the test, read and re-read these SCBCD study notes. They were invaluable to me for cramming immediately before the test.

My study strategy was to read the book while at my computer, and take notes, IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Don't copy the book text verbatim because you can do that without thinking. If you have to translate key pieces of text in the book to your own words, it forces your brain to process them, and you will remember them better. Do all the exercises. When you have completed the book, then start doing mock exams on the web. You can find free ones linked at JDiscuss.

When you take the test, READ CAREFULLY. Some of the questions are *very* subtle and require you to know perfectly the differences between stateful/stateless, session/entity/MDB, remote/local, the five roles (bean provider, app assembler, etc) and their responsibilities, etc. Make sure when you are done you revisit every single question and reread it carefully (twice!). I almost missed two questions because I was accustomed to "Bean Provider" being the first choice for role questions and I automatically chose that option without realizing that it actually said "Deployer". If I hadn't reviewed, I would have missed 4 questions instead of 2

The best thing you can do for yourself if practice. Take as many mock exams as you can find because it will give you a very good idea of what you struggle with. For me, it was the subtle differences between the interfaces and the actions each interface allow you to take. USE YOUR SCRATCH PAPER. Immediately before the test, memorize your problem areas and write them down on your scratch paper before you answer a single question. That enables you to relax a little bit and rely less on memory during your question answering. Using this strategy, I didn't miss any questions in my problem areas.

Mike

raj sekar

Ranch Hand

Posts: 79

posted 12 years ago

Congrats !!!

Thanks for sharing your exam prep... it helps a lot !!!

Raj

Thanks,
RajN - (SCJP,SCWCD,SCBCD,SCSA,IBM XML 142 )
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